


i place great faith in you

by junietuesday25



Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: Bodyguard, Character Study, Family Issues, Gen, Light Angst, Parent-Child Relationship, Pre-Calamity (Legend of Zelda), sort of?? i tried, theyre Trying but
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-13
Updated: 2020-12-13
Packaged: 2021-03-10 18:21:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,090
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28041570
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/junietuesday25/pseuds/junietuesday25
Summary: "He's assigned aknight to watch over me wherever I go."Link is the knight to the Princess. His sole purpose is to protect her at all costs.
Relationships: Link & Link's Father (Legend of Zelda), Link & Zelda (Legend of Zelda)
Comments: 7
Kudos: 41





	i place great faith in you

**Author's Note:**

  * For [IdioticCanadian](https://archiveofourown.org/users/IdioticCanadian/gifts).



> hiya nath happy birthday!! im sorry that this isnt longer, i only had 3 days notice, and its not the angstiest (though nothing can top your angst), _but_ i hope you like it!! and to all my readers, i hope you enjoy! <3

Rito City is gorgeous. The wooden bridges criss-crossing the pillars of Lake Totori are smooth under Link’s touch, the air is alive with song and laughter, and the sun is bright and warm above—if Link can agree with his fellow Champion Revali on one thing, it’s the beauty of the Rito’s home.

“Princess Zelda,” says the Rito Elder, whose name Link can’t remember—something with a K? Her feathers are a faded brown, and her footsteps tremble, shaking her whole body as she moves; Link is concerned about whether she should even be standing. “It is an honor to receive you.”

“The honor is mine,” Princess Zelda says, taking the proffered wing. They disappear into the Elder’s home; Link stares at the door for a moment, before turning around at the city that stretches out wide around him.

It can’t hurt for him to explore just a little bit. The Princess is safe, protected by the Elder’s guards stationed at the only entrance to the building. They can’t expect Link to just stand outside the door all day!

(They can. Link does it every evening outside the Princess’s bedroom door.)

But… The Rito don’t know that.

Link sheathes his sword and walks onto the city’s wide bridges.

* * *

Link has to push down a feeling of disappointment as he climbs the steps back to the Rito Elder’s home, hours later. He’s lucky that he got so much free time at all—the Princess’s diplomatic conference started first thing this morning, and Link ended up playing with the Rito fledglings until afternoon. They still have a few hours of travel to make it back to Hyrule Castle, so they’ll have to depart soon if they want to make it back by King Rhoam’s command of sundown.

“Has the Princess finished her meeting yet?” Link asks one of the soldiers standing guard outside the door. “It’s been hours...”

“She left quite some time ago,” the guard says, sounding confused. “She didn’t return to you?”

_Oh no._

Without even replying to the guard, Link runs off, making a mental list of where Princess Zelda is likely to be. It’ll be his head on a spike if he can’t locate her in time to reach the Castle by sundown—that is, if his father doesn’t scold him to death first.

All Link wanted was to have fun while the Princess was accounted for! Is it such a crime to put down his sword for just one afternoon and explore this whole new city? The children had been so friendly and excited to meet someone new—how could Link refuse?

None of that matters. What’s important is that Princess Zelda is missing.

There’s a shrine in the village itself, but Link already passed it on the way up, and surely the Princess wouldn’t stay so close to her knight with this chance to escape at her fingertips. The shrine at the stable, maybe—but there are people there who would point out the Princess’s lack of company, and she would be duly escorted back to a Hylian soldier. Could there be any other shrines that the Princess could have reached within the afternoon?

“Excuse me?” Link calls up at a Rito woman flying by. By now he’s more than practiced in keeping his adrenaline contained; that doesn’t mean his stomach isn’t swooping with panic. “Do you know anywhere that looks like the Sheikah shrine in the city? Like Vah Medoh? That strange stone material?”

“Hmm,” the woman says, agonizingly slow. “I suppose… Maybe you could look at Warbler’s Nest? There’s that weird platform we built the area around…”

“Yes!” Finally: an objective. “Where is that?”

“Not too far west of here.” The woman points toward an outcropping of stone in the distance. “The city’s bridge for the other species leads east, of course, but it shouldn’t be a very long trip on horseback. I’d say… How long do those things take… Maybe an hour of travel?”

An entire hour. Link wants to hit something.

“Thank you, ma’am,” he says instead, already turning toward the bridge. He can’t run down to the stables—it would spark alarm among the ranks of Hylian soldiers posted at the settlement to see Link rushing off without the Princess in sight—but his steps are quick and light as he twists past the crowd of citizens. The Princess could be trapped, injured, de—

No. He can’t think about that. 

Link feels awful for how hard he pushes his horse, Cookie (silly, he knows—a name secret to everyone but Link and his horse), once he finally makes it onto the roads. But each minute is crucial in ensuring the Princess’s safety; each second could mean the difference between saving _both_ of their lives or losing them.

Link’s mind has been whirling so fast that it feels like only moments later, his horse is slowing to a stop in front of the strange pierced stones of Warbler’s Nest. He slides off and moves closer; sure enough, the Princess is pressing the Sheikah Slate against the stone pedestal in the center of the clearing. 

For a moment Link stands there, panting, and Princess Zelda looks at him with disdain.

“I can take care of myself perfectly well!” she snarls, clipping her slate back onto her belt. “Leave me alone!”

 _I can’t,_ Link wants to yell right back. _Neither of us like this!_

Instead Link only says, “His Majesty requires that we return to the Castle immediately.”

Princess Zelda huffs. “Fine,” she says tersely, and marches in the direction of her horse without a backwards glance.

Link runs to catch up with her, and when he mounts Cookie, he tangles his hands in her mane for a few moments, her warmth providing a small amount of solace.

* * *

“You’re late.” 

King Rhoam’s voice is stern. Link dares not even move his head, eyes remaining trained on the throne room floor.

“There were delays on the road,” Princess Zelda says loftily. “Monsters. Link took his time defeating them.”

“Is that so,” King Rhoam says. Link doesn’t see if Zelda replies wordlessly, but King Rhoam continues regardless, “In that case, I extend my thanks once again, _Sir_ Link—” Link stares hard at the floor “—for protecting my daughter and fulfilling your duty with distinction.”

Link raises his head, and nods once. Oh how he wishes King Rhoam would say his thanks and be done with it—Link is the one who has to deal with the repercussions of the Princess’s fury at being compared to him. 

On queue, Princess Zelda’s eyes harden, her hands closing tighter around the Sheikah Slate. “Yes, yes,” she says. “May I be excused? I wish to retire to my bedroom after the long journey.”

“You may,” says King Rhoam. “I expect you will continue your training tomorrow morning.”

“Of course.” Princess Zelda’s eyes flick down.

“You will make sure of it,” King Rhoam says, and looks at Link. Suddenly Link realizes that he’s been _watching_ the royalty speak—he nods again before staring back down at the ground, heart thumping.

“Good,” King Rhoam says. “You may leave.”

At those words, Link can see Princess Zelda turn around—he rises to his feet and trails after her as she stalks through the halls, eyes locked firmly on her Sheikah Slate; she swipes through her notes so fast that Link doesn’t know if she’s even reading them.

Princess Zelda turns around and glares at him as they approach her bedroom.

“Must you follow me even now?” she grumbles. “I am perfectly safe within the Castle.”

Link wonders how she can still nitpick at this when Link has been guarding her bedroom in the evenings for almost as long as he’s been her knight.

“My duty is to defend you wherever you may go,” Link tries.

Princess Zelda opens her mouth, but just sighs and keeps walking. When they arrive at her bedroom, she shuts the door with a slam—nothing new. Link looks around the hallway, checking for any servants passing through, before daring to settle on the floor, the Master Sword on the ground by his hand.

Link leans his head against the wall. He wants nothing more than to go to bed, after such an intensive day, but his “shift”—if being at attention for sixteen hours straight counts as such—ends at 8 PM. At least, with the sun setting later in the summers and their late arrival despite that, he only has an hour left to somehow entertain himself.

He scolds himself for that thought. He has to _guard_ her; he has to watch and listen carefully for any threats against the Princess’s life, not mindlessly kill time.

Link grabs the Master Sword and gets to his feet. The minutes tick by agonizingly slowly; it feels like hours before one of the other royal guards finally arrives to relieve Link of his shift.

“Your father would like to see you in his office,” Dame Itea says, royal guard’s sword already in her hand as she moves to stand in front of the door.

Link nods. He just wants to bathe and _sleep_ ; whenever Link seeks his father out to spend time with him at the end of the day, he’s busy with royal duties, and now that Link is exhausted to the bone, his father decides to summon him.

A tiny part of Link wants to tell his father that he technically outranks him, and delay whatever this conversation is until morning. The rest of him is scandalized at the idea of treating his father like that, so he goes downstairs instead of to his bedroom down the hall of the Princess’s, and knocks on the door of his father’s office.

“Come in,” he hears his father call. Link pushes open the door.

Link’s father is sitting behind his desk, with papers stacked into neat piles in front of him, but he stands when he sees Link enter. The royal guard’s uniform looks graceful and dignified on his father; the same dark cap and tall white boots just make Link look even smaller and stockier.

“King Rhoam relayed a report about your journey today,” his father says, picking up one of the sheets of paper. “You were attacked on the way to the Castle? I need to know where to send my soldiers to clear the roads.”

“Oh.” Link has no clue where he could plausibly claim a monster colony to be. The Princess hadn’t even done him the mercy of choosing a half-lie. “…There was no monster attack.”

“No attack, you say?” His father’s expression hardens; he steps around his desk to stand face-to-face with Link. “This report from the King himself is a lie?”

“Yes,” Link says carefully. “Princess Zelda told him that. She—she escaped to study an ancient pedestal and I had to look for her—”

“Look for her?” his father says, voice rising. “You were not with her the entire time?”

Link resists the urge to raise a hand to his hair—a nervous habit that he’d been trying to break since the beginning of his knighthood. “I was—she was in a meeting with the Rito Elder, surrounded by guards—I thought—”

“What did you think? That you were free to leave just because the Princess wouldn’t notice your absence?”

“I—I don’t—”

“How many times do I have to tell you?” his father snaps, pacing back and forth in front of Link. “You must not let the Princess out of your sight!”

“I’m trying.” Link’s voice is weak even to his own ears. “She keeps running away—”

“That’s no excuse,” his father says, stopping to level him with stern eyes. Link tries not to flinch. “Did you learn _anything_ from those years of education? One slip-up could spell doom for the entire kingdom!”

“I know,” Link says tightly. He sets his jaw and steels his gaze. “I’ll do better. If you’ll excuse me, sir...”

His father frowns at the word “sir”. Link ignores it and turns to leave, the Master Sword clinking against his back.

“Wait, Link,” his father says, and Link looks back. More gently, this time, his father tells him, “The Princess may be evasive, and destiny may weigh on your shoulders, but you’re a smart and capable young man. You’ll excel in your duty, as always.”

_Man._

_As always._

“Okay,” Link says quietly. He can feel his father’s eyes on his back as he exits the office.

Despite tomorrow’s early start, sleep doesn’t come to Link easily that night.

**Author's Note:**

> me? giving link my own parental issues? _never._ highkey i wanna continue this which is why it's 1/? chapters, i just think link's neat ok and thus project like a mfer. speaking of which i put vague nonbinary subtext in there but cause its not like, prominent so i didnt tag it bc i didnt wanna bait people really looking for trans content. i Will write more trans link i swear i just wanted to focus on other stuff here


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